December's Here

Can't believe that the year has gone already ... and yet my brain already thinks that it's 2018. Silly brain. I am looking forward to 2018. There's going to be a lot of awesomeness happening. And I achieved a lot of what I set out to do here in 2017. (I mean, except for writing Love and Memory, but I made good progress with that one, and I'll let it be.) I think, for the first time in a long time, I'm actually ready for the new year.

Almost, but not quite - as I do have four December goals on the writing end:

1. Finish the last four chapters and the epilogue of The Worth of a King (And decide if I need to change the title. Granite and I have had a talk, and if chapter 19 of part 3 goes right, I won't need to, but ... we'll see how it goes. I really don't want to change the title, as I love it so much, but I'm very worried about it not fitting the book's plot.)

2. Write four or five chapters of Honor: A Quest In. I restarted this book on the first, in a notebook this time, and I'm almost done with the first chapter. I really like how it's going. I also have a table of contents already written, so I know where this story is going. I'd like to have this book finished by May of next year, and have it released in late winter/early spring of 2019.

3. Edit and submit The Seven Drawers to the Rooglewood Contest. I've already sent in my submission form. I just need to shiny the book up and make it irresistible. Winning this contest would be AMAZING for my writing career, especially since I'm already established as a Fairy Tale author, and this will likely bring love back to my Bookanias (and those babies are in desperate need of Love.)

4. Have sign-up ready and the writing contest opened for Indie e-Con 2018. YES, FOLKS, INDIE E-CON 2018 IS COMING. Due to popular demand, I've moved it a bit further into the year, though - May 21st - 26th. My current scheme is to have the sign-up and contest opened by the 15th of this month, so stay tuned on the GiraffeCrafts Blog.

But I also told my boss that I'm willing work four days a week instead of three as is my usual, during the duration of December, so let's see how I survive that. (Haha, I'll survive. And I'll have a wee bit more money.)

And then we have Christmas and I am very much NOT ready for that. I mean, as we stand at the moment, the only presents I have bought is some books for V, and then I'm going to upgrade to the Family Plan for MS Word and call that my Christmas present for my family. (I mean, it's only $50 more to have five people on my plan, so ... really no point in not upgrading.)

But I think I'm going to try to clean up my room today, pull out my personal tree, and get it decorated. Maybe then I'll be a bit more hohoho.

Oh, enjoy some NaNo Snippets:

  "Silver and Gold..." he repeated, as he finally realized who this was. There was only one person who referred to the Immortal King and Queen by those names, or at least, that's what Granite claimed. 

Laura, the Doorkeeper, who had been like a mother to them. The girl who walked between worlds with the same ease as a person walked from his bedroom to the kitchen. 

  Somehow, he'd never expected her to seem so young.

  "Oh, yes, Amber and Granite, that's what you call them, the dear ones," said Laura, nodding firmly.    "So, shall we go surprise them? I don't imagine that you'll be the best of surprises for them, Delaney, because your presence here means that Ossian tried to make you take that scale and..." She shuddered. "Those scales are terrible things, you must understand. I don't like them, not one bit. They cause nothing but pain and sadness, and if we could just destroy them all right now, the world would be a much happier place. Except that we can't, because so many of them are still stuck to dragons, and to destroy their scales would hurt the dragons, and we can't have that happening, now can we?"

  Delaney blinked again. Honestly, this girl made Nadilynn seem like she slowly and carefully considered her every word. "The dragons..."

  "They have souls just like you and me, even if they are corrupt, they're not beyond hope of redemption," Laura explained, as she led Delaney into the castle. "No one's beyond hope of redemption, not until they're dead. Keep that in mind, Delaney."

  Delaney frowned. "Oh, okay."

  "But," and her voice turned serious and quiet, "sometimes they won't. Not that they can't, but they won't. No one is beyond redemption, but some reject it until it's too late."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  She broke out of the crowd, ran into the house, and threw herself into her bed, burying her head in the pillows.

  “Nadi, why do you have to be such a stubborn idiot!” she choked out, trying desperately to keep tears at bay. “I told you – I told you! Now you’re going to make things so much harder for everyone, and what do you care? You had your romantic rush of defiance, so you’re happy. But what’s to become of the rest of us?”

  “We’ll figure something out, I’m sure. She did just cost Ossian his alliance with Hollolund. I know that I, for one, wasn’t looking forward to having to fight them, too, to get that throne.”

  Obsidia pried the pillow off of her head to glare at her brother, who stood in her bedroom door.   “Nadi is an idiot!” she repeated.

  “Hush, not too loud, now,” said Adrian stepping out of the doorway and sitting down next to her on the bed. “That would be considered treason if the wrong person heard it. We all know that you grew up with Princess Nadilynn and own the especial right to call her whatever you please, but the people on the streets do not, and they’re currently very interested in your reaction to finding out your future queen.”

  Obsidia swallowed and flopped the pillow back onto her head. “I don’t know what to do with her, Adrian.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Adrian shrugged in agreement as he followed the Immortal King through the confusing halls of this castle. "So, what's it like, being king?" he asked. "Ruling all of the people?"

  "Well, we don't have so many people who directly follow Amber and me," Granite admitted, tilting his head to the side. "So we don't do as much ruling as you'll be doing. But we do have to go from country to country making sure that all of the rulers are behaving themselves and treating their subjects properly. Personally, at my age, I'd much prefer to be left alone and to let all of the people rule themselves, but they need someone older and wiser to set them straight." He shook his head. "I think being king is less about ruling people than it is setting a good example for them."

  Adrian blinked and slowly nodded. "I guess. I just ... that's still a huge responsibility."

  "It is," the king agreed. "Ah, here we are, at the training hall." He pushed open a door and entered a room with weapons covering every inch of the wall. Adrian entered after him, mouth agape as he stared at all of the weapons represented.

  "I imagine that you already have your knives on your person, as any good Zovordian," said Granite, approaching the wall and removing a pair of knives of his own. "Good weapons, knives." 

  "I don't even know what half of these weapons are," Adrian admitted, his eye scanning the room.

  "Well, when you've lived nearly three thousand years, you get bored and start collecting," Granite admitted, shrugging. "And I didn't even do all of the collecting - there was an Immortal King for every Immortal Queen, making me the eleventh of our line, just as Amber is." He grinned a bit. "And while I am among the longest-lived of all of them, none of them were younglings when they died. So, shall we commence?"

  Adrian swallowed and drew his knife. "Sure, I guess."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Laura plopped herself down at the head of the table and gathered up a stack of papers that were already lying there. "Oh, it looks like Silver stayed up far too late last night, working on battle plans. Don't quite understand her fascination with maps, myself, but I suppose, if one has to navigate places in a linear fashion, they do have their uses." She picked up a ceramic globe that lay to the side and cracked it open to reveal the map inside. "It never ceases to amaze me how many different shapes and forms that worlds can take. For instance, most worlds where I visit, we walk around on the outside." She walked her fingers over the smooth outer rim of the globe. But this world - this world is inside. I just love it so much - don't you, too?"